Week 4: The Vineyard That Failed

Isaiah stands before a crowd and sings a love song about a man and his vineyard. He cleared the hillside, planted the finest vines, built a tower, and cut a winepress into the rock, and the vineyard gave him nothing but worthless grapes. The owner asks the crowd to judge between him and his vineyard, and they give the only honest answer before they realize they're the vineyard. God came looking for justice and found bloodshed; he looked for righteousness and heard cries of despair.

Then come six woes, a funeral word spoken over people who are still alive and still at the party. None of their sins would get them arrested anywhere. They bought up land, drank through the day, dared God to hurry, relabeled evil as good, trusted their own judgment, and sold verdicts for a bribe. God calls it all worthless grapes. The chapter ends with His hand still raised, a whistle to the distant nations, and darkness over the land. For the first time in Isaiah, no promise follows. Seven centuries later Jesus retold the song against the men in the temple, and then He called Himself the true vine (John 15:1).